


It's a Love Story

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Rip Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 07:29:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14637023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: “But you’ve got it all wrong!”Phil stared at the woman, “No, I haven’t. How do I have it wrong?”“You’re writing it like it’s a love story!” Gideon admonished.“Well isn’t it?”In which Gideon would never abandon Rip, even when he isn’t quite himself, and Phil Gasmer had to get his inspiration from somewhere.





	It's a Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea since S2, RipWeek seemed like a good time to write it.

The first thing Phil noticed was the metal. Shining silver metal surrounding him. It wasn’t all that homey of a place really. He frowned as he sat up on the floor, taking a proper look around. There were some chairs and a large window with green clouds outside.

Trippy.

He got up and walked closer to the window, squinting at the green.

“It’s the time vortex.”

Phil jumped, and turned around. A woman was sitting in the front most seat, what he assumed would have been the Captain’s seat. She gave him a small smile, her grey eyes lighting up. She walked over to him, cupping his cheek.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you safe!” she whispered before jumping up and wrapping his arms around him.

Phil froze, awkwardly patting her back. “Uh, listen, lady. I don’t know who you are, but if you could let go now? I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.”

She pulled away and frowned at him. “Captain?”

“No, Phil,” he pointed to himself, speaking slowly like that time he and George gave a talk to the elementary kids.

“Phil,” she repeated dumbly.

“Yeah,” he drew the word out as he stepped away from the British lady. He kinda digged her accent, but it was so proper. He felt like he should be bowing or something. Phil let her arms drop from around him and took a step towards the center of the room. He looked around the place in awe.

“Far out place you got here,” he complimented, “Really digging the new-age space vibe you got going on. Taking it you’re a fan of _Star Trek_?”

“ _Star Trek_.” She stared at him blankly.

“Yeah, you know, the show where they explore the final frontier, space-“

“I am aware of the premise of the television serial, I have knowledge of all popular culture, thank you very much.”

Phil grinned at her little speech. He liked her little inflections, the tilt of her head, the steely look in her eyes. It was all so theatrical. She’d make a killing on the big screen.

She took a step towards him and Phil felt himself stepping back. That made her stop. “Do you really not remember yourself?”

“My name is Phil, I already told you that. You should pay better attention,” he rolled his eyes.

“That’s not who you are, Captain!”

“Look, I don’t know who you’re-”

“Do you know who I am?” she asked with a small voice. Phil looked her over, the brown locks of hair, the high cheekbones, the determined flint in her eyes. She was pretty, sure, but not someone Phil knew. He shrugged and shook his head.

“Gideon,” she said. He frowned at the strange name but didn’t get a chance to comment as she went into another rant. “I don’t understand! You touched the time drive, and then you become this? You have to be in there somewhere, perhaps your mind is simply asleep. Bipolar disorder can probably ruled out. What I would give to do a proper scan of you…”

Phil let her continue, shutting her voice out as he looked around the place some more. There was a room in the back, all glass. Now that place looked cool. He could see a globe, some books, an armchair. Someone clearly went through the effort of making that place inviting, comforting.

“No, no!” He could vaguely hear the British lady – Gideon, apparently – complaining. “I’m losing the link, please just tell me where you are and-”

Phil woke with a start, clutching his pounding in his head. He moaned and fell back on the bed.

“Shut up! I’m trying to sleep here.” George punctuated the statement by throwing something at him.

“Your fault,” Phil muttered, “Knew I shouldn’t have taken those drugs.”  Clearly gave him weird dreams.

* * *

 

“Man, I have really gotta lay off the acid.”

“You’re doing drugs?!”

Phil winced and turned at the shrill voice. “British lady,” he gave her a dramatic bow. She tried to hide it, but he saw the small smile on her face. “Gideon,” he corrected himself. He took a step down the stairs, walking around her. She looked exactly the same as before. “Recreational drugs, occasionally. Everyone does them. So, recurring dreams, that’s a first.”

“Normally when something happens more than once, it means your subconscious is trying to tell you something,” Gideon pointed out.

“You know, not into all the dream analysis, Freudian kind of stuff.” He liked a good trip now and then, but overthinking everything, that just wasn’t groovy at all.

“Captain Hunter-”

“Phil. My name is Phil. I’m not your stupid Captain!”

“Phil,” Gideon repeated tightly as she stepped closer to him. “What if I told you, you are my Captain?”

“I’d ask what you’re on.”

“I am not ‘on’ anything!” Gideon snapped, “It’s true, you are my Captain.”

“I need to stop taking whatever George gives me,” Phil shook his head, “This is the weirdest dream-”

“It’s not a dream,” Gideon interrupted him. “I mean, it is in a way. This is your subconscious, the only place where I can actually talk to you. In that sense it is a dream, but everything here is very real. This is your ship, and I am your Gideon. I thought that if I saw you in here, you would remember, but it seems whatever happened to you has done more damage than I thought.”

Phil nodded slowly, hoping it would appease her. He wondered how he could get himself to wake up this time.

“Look, if you would please just listen-”

“I’m not your Cap-” Phil stopped talking as Gideon snapped her fingers and a hologram appeared by the windowed room. He wandered over, circling it. “Far out. I’ll admit he looks a little like me, but that doesn’t mean-”

“Captain Rip Hunter,” Gideon began, “Former Time Master. He served them for over a decade before he realized they were corrupt, and instead brought about their downfall along with the immortal dictator, Vandal Savage. He lived in 2166, until the deaths of his family, then chose to protect time itself. He makes Time Pirates run scared, and is quite the rebel when he wants to be. In short, he is brilliant.”

Phil looked at her, the words registering slowly. But the look in Gideon’s eyes. The compassion, the loyalty, the softness in her expression as she looked at the still image. The same softness she at times had looked at him with.

He could only notice one brilliant thing: the utter adoration she had when she talked about her Captain.

This time, when he woke up, Phil threw a pillow at George, waking his roommate instantly.

“I’ve got the grooviest idea for my thesis film.”

* * *

 

After that he started using his dreams as research.

“Who’s Sara?”

“Captain Lance, she took over after you left. Someone had to look after the Legends,” Gideon explained.

“Lady Captain, that’s awesome,” Phil said as he picked up the random objects on the table.

“You got that in the flea market at the height of the Byzantine Empire. I told you not to buy it, just a waste of space. I think you only kept it out to annoy me.” Gideon shook her head at his-or rather Captain Hunter’s antics.

Phil put the bauble down, not wanting to know more. “So what’s this girl like?”

“I believe the team refers to her as a ‘badass’. She is quite formidable in a fight.”

“How come you didn’t take over the team?” Phil asked with a frown. Clearly she cared about this Captain enough.

“Because that would be an impossible task.”

**

“So what’re you going to name her?” George asked.

“Sandra, I think, that’s what it was,” Phil said, with a frown. The dreams were foggy at best at times. Only certain things stuck out. Like the smile on Gideon’s face whenever she saw him. “She’s gonna be the leader of the ship, but Gideon’s still the main character.”

**

“Mr. Jackson does all the repairs on the ship. He’s the only one we both trusted to do so,” Gideon said.

“And he’s tight with this Marty guy?”

“Yes, they are two halves of a whole in a way. Together, they make Firestorm.”

Phil nodded. “So like a dragon. Far out.” Gideon laughed as she always did whenever he made certain comments. He liked her laugh.

“And that other guy, there’s another one that likes fire.”

“Mr. Rory, our resident pyro,” Gideon sighed.

“Which one’s your favourite? Other than Captain Hunter, I mean.”

“I don’t pick favourites.”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Sure, you don’t.”

**

“Max, best ship mechanic. Probably trained by Captain Hunter,” Phil explained to George.

“What about your Marvin character?” George asked, flipping through the rough draft of the script.

“Old guy on the ship. Think he’s Max’s father or uncle? Probably came along to make sure Max is safe.”

“Makes sense to me. I’ll put out the casting notice tomorrow. And Rick? If we have fire on the set, we could burn it down!”

“We gotta have fire, gotta make it as authentic as possible.”

George sighed. “This is gonna kill our budget.”

**

“How come you have two scientists? Why is Ray there?”

“They have different specialties. Doctor Palmer has the ATOM suit, he can shrink to a tiny size,” Gideon explained.

“Like an ant?”

“Yes, in a way, I suppose.” Gideon looked away. “You always enjoyed his good heartedness, said you’d hardly ever met anyone so kind.”

**

“Why did you edit it like that?” Phil demanded.

“I thought it’d make a better story!” George protested.

“You’re wrong. Gideon doesn’t like Roy. I mean he’s good and all, but she loves Captain Hunter.” Phil shook his head.

“Yeah, but I was thinking, what if they don’t find the Captain? And Gideon moves on instead?” George asked.

“She wouldn’t,” Phil stated clearly, “She loves this Rip guy.” Even if she could do better.

“And they both deserve a happy ending. She saves him and he loves her back. End of story.”

**

“So, what do you think? Good, right?” Phil asked as he finished sharing his script. He was eager for Gideon’s feedback. What she would think of this fantastical new story.

“But you’ve got it all wrong!”

Phil stared at the woman, “No, I haven’t. How do I have it wrong?”

“You’re writing it like it’s a love story!” Gideon admonished.

“Well isn’t it?”

Gideon said nothing, simply looked away.

* * *

 

“No, no, no!” Phil yelled in the bullhorn. “You know what? Next, just next!” The woman on the stage shot him a wounded look before huffing and leaving the stage.

“There is no next,” George told him tiredly, “You went through all of them and couldn’t pick a single one.”

“None of them were right! Is this really the best we can do?” Phil asked his props master.

“I don’t know what kinda budget you think we have, but yeah, basically. Come on, man! You gotta pick someone, this is getting old and we need a leading lady. This is your thesis project, you have to finish it.”

“Which is why I need it to be perfect,” Phil insisted, “None of these girls are right anyways. Blondes, redheads, and the ones that are brunette can’t even do a decent British accent. It’s not even that hard!”

George rolled his eyes, “We gotta start shooting in two weeks or we’ll never meet the deadline. Gideon’s the last role we need to cast. Just pick someone!” And the main one.

“I can’t just pick anyone! This is important! She needs to have this certain…I don’t know, but it’s special.” Phil said as he started packing up his stuff. He’d try again tomorrow. He sighed and started to leave, George hurrying after him.

“Well, hey, I’ve been thinking,” George huffed and puffed as he tried to keep up, “Maybe we should change the name.”

Phil stopped dead in his tracks.

“What?”

“Well yeah, I mean, Gideon’s more of a guy’s name. Maybe it’s turning some of the girls off from auditioning,” George shrugged.

“Well then we don’t need them to audition anyways,” Phil snapped at him before resuming his walking.

“Phil! Come on, man!”

“We’re not changing her name! It’s Gideon. Her name is Gideon and we’re keeping it that way.”

* * *

 

Except, the more he talked to Gideon, the more he realized there was no one that could compare. Not with her diva-like tendencies, a face that was made for the camera, and this persona that was just awe-inspiring. No one could be Gideon.

He starts rewriting it, at first he tries to give Gideon a minor role. But if she’s in the movie, then there’s no way she doesn’t steal the show. So, he has no choice but to scrap the character all together. It takes a while, but he manages to center the film around Sandra instead. It works out nicely, a strong female lead and her team of rowdy friends. On the off chance Gideon asks about his film when she’s not trying to get him to be her Captain, he simply tells her it’s fine.

“You sure about this?” George asked as he finishes reading, “The first version was so good. The epic love story and-”

“And maybe it was the wrong story anyways,” Phil shrugged.

“Thought you loved the Gideon character. The idea of a happy ending?”

Phil shrugged again. It had been hard to scrap the only emotional support pillar Rip Hunter had. Without Gideon, there was little for him to live for. The entire film became more bittersweet than an ‘epic love story’ as George called it. But maybe it was better this way.

“Happy endings are overrated anyways.” Phil sighs and looks at the set. “Rewrites are here,” he yells at the cast. He hands them out to each of the actors. “We start in thirty minutes. And would somebody move those trashcans! Someone’s going to run into them!”

* * *

 

“This is kidnapping!”

“It’s saving your life.”

Phil glared at the ceiling, not sure where to focus his attentions on. Her voice is the same, same as in his dreams. That alone is the only thing that makes him think this is all real. But it can’t be. The Legends can’t be real, Captain Rip Hunter can’t be real. It was all just a bunch of stupid dreams, but then there’s Gideon.

“I’m not your Captain!” Phil yelled. “I don’t have any super powers.”

“Neither did Captain Hunter,” Gideon admonished, “Unless you count his courage, honour, and intellect.”

And there it is again. That tone of voice. The one that’s filled with loyalty and love. For her Captain. Always, always her Captain. There’s something in him that wishes suddenly that she would talk about him that way, just once.

“And what would he do? Your Captain,” Phil can’t help but scoff at it, “If he were here.”

“He would save his friends.”

“How?”

Gideon leads him to a room she calls a fabricator, tells him what clothes to pick out. He feels a little self-conscious dressing himself. He’s not entirely sure how much she sees.

“In my dreams, you were a person,” he muttered quietly. Just as demanding though.

“Because you’ve always been kind enough to see me as human,” Gideon said, “The only one that cared to.”

“You mean your Captain?” Phil’s voice was bitter again.

“You are my Captain, whether you know it or not. And whether you want it or not.”

“What’s wrong with being Phil?” he asked, “I like being Phil.”

“Absolutely nothing.” Gideon’s voice was soft. “You have no idea how brave you are, how wonderful.”

“You think so?”

“Of course, do you want to know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because you’re doing the right thing right now.”

“I’m terrified,” he whispered.

“I know you are, and that’s what makes you so brave. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. You are very brave. And I would be more than proud to call Phil Gasmer my Captain,” Gideon stated.

This time, he could hear the love in her voice for him.

* * *

 

“Why wasn’t I in your movie?”

Rip looked up at the ceiling, frowning in confusion. “Gideon, you know when you start these conversations I need a little more context to go on.”

“Your thesis film. You had all the other Legends in it, but not me,” she said sadly.

Rip sat back in his chair, crossing his arms as he tried to remember exactly what the hell she was talking about. “You mean Phil’s movie?” he asked.

“You were both one and the same.”

“In some ways I suppose,” he muttered as he swirled his whiskey and took another drink of it.

“I wasn’t in your movie – but you said I was the main character. And you changed it!”

Rip gave a small smile at her outraged tone. She really could have been a starlet. “Yes, I know.”

“Why?”

Rip sighed and stood up, walked over to his desk and set down the glass. He leaned against the table, crossing his arms, and looked over at her console. Immediately, her avatar appeared.

“I tried to – he tried to,” Rip winced and looked down. That part of his life would always be a jumbled mess. “He tried to cast someone, worthy to play you. But none of them were right, Gideon. None of them were good enough.”

“I do set a rather high bar,” Gideon quipped.

“You do,” Rip responded, his voice serious.

“Well I suppose this version is more accurate,” Gideon said, “His team saving the true Captain of the ship.”

“Do you think so?” Rip gave her a teasing smile, “I’m rather a fan of the first version myself.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Brave and heroic Captain goes missing, now that part may or may not be completely accurate-”

“It is.”

Rip shook his head at her and continued. “His best friend, who loves him so much, doing everything she can possible to find him, save him. Loyal to a fault. And in the end, she’s the only one that can bring him back. Because he…loves her just as much.”

“But it isn’t true,” Gideon reminded him.

“Isn’t it?” Rip asked quietly. Gideon gave no response, turning off her avatar. Rip sighed and looked back at his drink, knowing perfectly well that she was still listening in.

“For the record, it is true,” he said firmly, “From the very start, even if we didn’t know it at the time. It’s always been a love story.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos/comments?


End file.
